Dave Webb

The Division of Wildlife Resources will host the free clinic at Fish Lake on Feb. 8. The clinic begins at 8 a.m.

Fish Lake is east of Richfield. The clinic will be held on the south end of the lake. Easy-to-follow signs will direct you from a parking lot to the location on the lake where the event will be held.

Lynn Chamberlain, regional conservation outreach manager for the DWR, says you can learn a variety of ice fishing skills at the clinic. The best tackle and bait to use, where and when to fish, how to stay safe on the ice, how to drill a hole in the ice, and how to catch lake trout and other species of fish are among the things you can learn.

"If you don't have your own ice fishing equipment," Chamberlain says, "no problem. Bait, tackle and fishing poles will be available for you to use."

In addition to learning the basics of ice fishing, you can also learn how to catch lake trout. "If you've never caught a lake trout through the ice," Chamberlain says, "make plans to attend the clinic. Biologists will be available to teach you how to catch these huge fish." Chamberlain says biologists will also be happy to visit with you about any management ideas you have for fishing waters in southern Utah. For more information, call the DWR's Southern Region office at 435-865-6100.

DWR has an excellent series of articles provided detailed information on how to catch fish through the ice. The articles provide specific information on how to fish Utah waters and catch Utah fish. To read them, follow the links below.

Enter your largest measured trout at each event and the person with the largest total measurements wins! Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at each reservoir plus the grand tournament prizes of $500, $300, and $200 gift cards to Scheels for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers. Additional prizes will also be rewarded at each reservoir.

$70/person for all four events. The tournament registration is due January 22 at noon. If you can't make all four, you may register for individual parks at www.stateparks.utah.gov or at each park on the day of the event, for that event only, at $20/person/park. Please note: dogs, OHV's and snowmobiles and not allowed at Deer Creek State Park.

We had a great time fishing Currant Creek Saturday evening. We were surprised to find it was totally ice-free. The road around the reservoir was mostly dry with no snow or ice. It was washboardy, but that is normal. The boat ramp was open and usable.

We say snow beneath trees on the hillsides but none around the reservoir.

Fishing success was slow when we first arrived, about 4 pm. We talked to a group who had only caught one, on Powerbait. We tried various lures without and luck until the sun sunk low in the sky.

About 6 pm action picked up dramatically. We caught several very nice fish, rainbows, cutthroats and tiger trout. They were fat and healthy. The biggest was a brightly colored rainbow that was about 18 inches long and almost measured the same around the girth. These were nice fish that struck hard and fought well.

In all, I caught 7 and Kevin lost count but probably landed 6-7. It has been a long time since I've caught that many solid fish in a one-day trip. We hooked fish using various lures, Castmaster, Jake's, but the Pointer Minnow proved to be the most effective.

They will soon stock the reservoir; after that most people will catch small, planted fish. But it is nice to know there are larger, hold-over fish available. Each fish we caught was carefully released.

We saw dozens of deer at dusk in open areas around the reservoir.

As we drove by Strawberry, we saw that it had some fishable open water – but not as much as I had expected. Peak ice-off action there will probably happen about May 1.

Ice-off fishing has started at Strawberry. This weekend will be a key time to fish if you want to catch the ice as it pulls back. Action will continue into next week. By next weekend the ice may be totally gone.

This report came in last night from Jay Nersisian: "Drove up to check lake this afternoon myself after fishing Weber with Larry Heinhold this AM. 10-30 yds of fishable-from-shore water at Laddrers inlet and north up beach along shores Chicken Creek bays. Expect plenty of "floatable" water by the wkend (at least until ice starts breaking into floes and gets pushed around by wind!)."

Wayne Guestaveson reports that fishing is very good for all special at Lake Powell right now. He predicts the peak time for spring smallmouth will happen during the last week or April and the first week of May. So get down there right now.

The lake is stabilizing, ready to start filling. Sight fishing is best in crystal clear water. Rising water causes bank sloughing which clouds the shallow water and reduces visibility. All these factors suggest that the last week of April and first week of May will be the peak time for spring bass fishing success.

Runoff from the Colorado River will cool and muddy the water from Hite to Good Hope Bay. Backs of northern lake canyons will have greater visibility, warmer water and good fishing but with the Hite launch ramp high and dry there is no reason to pass up the great bass fishing at midlake canyons.

May is the best month to fish for walleye lakewide as they try to recover from spawning stress and rebuild their muscle mass. Walleye search for food continually in these low forage conditions while waiting for shad to spawn and grow. Trolling along muddy shorelines may be the best strategy for walleye.

Striped bass are still found along every shoreline in the southern lake. Bait fishing is the most successful technique as stripers patrol along the canyon walls from the dam to the back of Navajo Canyon. From Padre Bay to Rincon stripers are found in isolated spots along the shoreline and can be readily collected by casting jerk baits (Lucky Craft Pointers) into the shallows. Bait fishing is improving in the Bullfrog area but it is not yet producing the incredible numbers found near the dam. Expect Bullfrog striper bait fishing to improve as water temperature warms into the 60s.

A USU study finds that fishing brings in $259 million or more annually for Utah economy. The Salt Lake Tribune has this article about the study. Below are excerpts.

The economists say that conservatively, they estimate anglers contributed $259 million in direct spending to fish in Utah in 2011 — about $184 million of that spent specifically to fish Utah’s Blue Ribbon waters.

This study showed that Wasatch County benefitted the most from Blue Ribbon Fisheries, with more than $110 million of total economic input from anglers heading to waters like Strawberry Reservoir, the middle Provo River, Jordanelle Reservoir and Currant Creek.

Daggett/Uintah counties pulled in second as the favorite destination area for Blue Ribbon Fisheries with the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir being the main draws. Garfield County saw more than $17 million in contributions from anglers visiting Lake Powell, Panguitch Lake, Panguitch Creek and Corn Creek.

Quagga mussel larva have been found in various spots at Lake Powell. No adult mussels have been found, but officials have changed the invasive species label for Powell from Undetected to Detected.

What that means is that boaters need to be diligent in cleaning, draining and drying boats.

Utah's DWR provided this news release about the issue:

Microscopic Invasive Mussels Found at Lake Powell
Boaters must be more diligent in decontaminating their boats.

In 2012, the National Park Service collected water samples from multiple locations in Lake
Powell. A few of those samples tested positive for the presence of microscopic, larval-stage quagga
mussels (called veligers). No adult mussels have been found in the lake. This discovery prompted
the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to change Lake Powell’s mussel status from
Undetected to Detected.

Individuals who boat at Lake Powell often travel to other Utah waterbodies. Boaters need to be exceptionally
careful in decontaminating their boats after they visit the lake.

What this means for boaters
If you are a boater who likes to visit Lake Powell, this means you will need to be more diligent in
cleaning, draining and drying your boat, especially if you plan to boat in other Utah waters.

What this doesn’t mean for boaters
While unfortunate, this news does not necessarily mean that Lake Powell has an established
population of quagga mussels. It does not mean that you shouldn’t boat in Lake Powell. We
encourage you to boat at Lake Powell — it is a wonderful place!

What you need to do

Enjoy Lake Powell!

After removing your boat from the lake, pull out the drain plug and pump out your ballast tanks/livewells. Lake Powell’s water is now a serious threat to other Utah waterbodies. Removing this water greatly reduces the threat.

Wipe down the outside of your boat.

When you arrive home, spread out all equipment and toys that were in the water and allow them to dry for seven days. This includes skis, wakeboards, life vests, anchors, ropes and water toys. Open all compartments to allow your boat to dry out. The veligers found in Lake Powell cannot survive without water for seven days in the summer.

If you plan on boating before your seven-day dry time has expired, contact your nearest DWR regional office and ask for a professional decontamination. Employees will be happy to help you. If you delay professional decontamination until you arrive at the ramp of your next water, there might be a long wait before you can decontaminate and launch.

If you are traveling on I-15 or across U.S. Highway 6, you can arrange decontamination at the DWR’s Cedar City office (435-865-6100) or Price office (435-613-3700) on your way home.

Why is decontamination a priority?
It is critically important to protect all Utah waterbodies from invasive species. If our recreation
areas become infested, access to your favorite lake or reservoir could be severely restricted. We
don’t want to see this happen, so we want to work with you — the boaters — to help keep Utah’s
waters clean and open for everyone.
For more information on invasive mussel monitoring at Lake Powell, visit
http://www.nps.gov/glca/parknews/musselupdate.htm.
— Published February 6, 2013